Posted on 03/07/2008 3:34:36 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
BOSTON (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will teach at Yale University in the next academic year starting in September, leading a course on "faith and globalization," the Ivy League school said on Friday.
Yale, the alma mater of U.S. President George W. Bush, said Blair had been appointed Howland Distinguished Fellow, a post that dates to 1915 and which has been occupied by such notable individuals as former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and journalist Sir Alistair Cooke.
Blair, a part-time international envoy for Palestinian economic development since he stepped down last year, will also participate in other events at the New Haven, Connecticut, campus, where he will teach the half-year course, Yale said.
He also plans to set up the Blair Faith Foundation, based in London, before taking up his teaching post, the university said.
The foundation aims to examine the role of religion in the modern world and to promote understanding among Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
"As the world continues to become increasingly inter-dependent, it is essential that we explore how religious values can be channeled toward reconciliation rather than polarization," Yale President Richard Levin said.
"Mr. Blair has demonstrated outstanding leadership in these areas and is especially qualified to bring his perspective to bear," he added in a statement.
Blair, 54, became leader of Britain's Labour Party in 1994. Three years later he became prime minister and remained in that role before stepping down last year.
Guess he couldn’t make the cut at Harvard..... :^)
Disgusting. The international cliques rewarding their own putrid snakes.
As hard as it is to believe when it comes to Islam, Tony Blair is more clueless than George Bush.
Blair is one of Islam's useful idiots.- tom
Yet another job opening for Bill Clinton..
Not a fan of Labour - but Blair bucked the trend to stand with the US and IIRC recently converted to Catholicism. Striking for an Anglican (in today’s UK) to take his faith so seriously...IMHO.
It appears as if he is walking the walk. Good luck and prayers up for his faith based efforts.
sp
Blair actually ‘gets’ it when it comes to Islam. I saw him in January, and he made the case for the huge opponent we face in the middle east better than just about anyone I have heard...especially among elected leaders.
He brought it down to the most granular level, that kids in these regions begin learning the Koran, and only the Koran, beginning a a young age for eight hours a day. While the economies of the middle east are modernized, the culture is centuries behind and these young people only know the words of the Koran and become radicalized.
Ah, but he’s not really another John Henry Cardinal Newman, is he?
Like hell he get it.
He has always made excuses for Islam and never addressed that the problem is a fundamental interpretation of the religion, and practicing it as written in the Koran and the example set by Muhammed in the Hadiths.
Blair spouts all the baloney of a hijacked religion extremists etc. At one time this idiot was telling the Brits it was about grievances.
The very fact that he thinks you can reconcile Christianity and Islam shows he doesn't understand Islam. - Tom
I, for one, would love to hear him speak. He was a staunch ally to us. I’d bet his presentation is well-reasoned. I’d welcome him here anytime.
As a refugee from the Episcopal church myself, I can understand his decision, although I will not follow him.
imho, Blair was a consistent ally to the US while he was in office, which surprised me at the time, since he seemed so cozy with the Clintons. I admire him, particularly in contrast to Gordon Brown.
Sorry to disagree, Cap’n, but I think he DOES ‘get it.’
He DID buck a lot of opposition to stand with Bush on Iraq.
And yes, he’s a crackerjack speaker. You have to be, to stand up in Commons and get bombarded with hostile questions every day.
The British Empire was in the Middle East for what, 200 years? They only left in the 1950s. One has to think that their collective experience should count for something.
And is it not true that the current management of the US forces is following much the same policies that the Brits were already doing down by Basra?
Naw, much as I am glad that I live far upwind of Yale, I do not disparage Tony Blair, even if he was Labour’s man.
I like Tony Blair. He was a loyal friend to the US.
I think Blair is a useful fool at best (See post 5) and a war criminal at worst (see Serbia Easter bombing 1999).
Personally, I think that very few Brits get it as such. Socialism and lack of pride in national character, traditions and history have the English on the ropes. I admire their military presence in Afganistan and partially in Iraq, but that is a a short-lived thing at the moment.
I have English friends, and even the most “conservative” among them do not get it, and do not understand that this is not 2008, but 1938, again.
I find nothing barfy about this at all.
Although I don’t agree with his domestic politics, Tony Blair was a good friend to the U.S. in our time of need and I won’t forget it.
I am talking about his take on the religion of Islam itslelf. Pres. Bush, like Blair also thinks Islam is a religion of peace. They couldn't be more wrong. All you have to do is read the Koran and Hadiths to find out what the religion should be about.
Here is Blair's take on Islam.;
A quote from Tony Blair in Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007
To me, the most remarkable thing about the Koran is how progressive it is. I write with great humility as a member of another faith. As an outsider, the Koran strikes me as a reforming book, trying to return Judaism and Christianity to their origins, much as reformers attempted to do with the Christian church centuries later. The Koran is inclusive. It extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition. It is practical and far ahead of its time in attitudes toward marriage, women, and governance. Under its guidance, the spread of Islam and its dominance over previously Christian or pagan lands were breathtaking. Over centuries, Islam founded an empire and led the world in discovery, art, and culture. The standard-bearers of tolerance in the early Middle Ages were far more likely to be found in Muslim lands than in Christian ones.
Exactly - and speaking as a British conservative, I can say he did us proud when it comes to foreign affairs.
It might seem like a nothing gesture, but he in effect, sacrificed his political career, his reputation and argueabley his health for what he believed in.
I will forever be thankful that he stood with America.
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